2015 Art Award Winners

New York, March 19, 2015 — The American Academy of Arts and Letters announced today the nine artists who will receive its 2015 awards in art. The awards will be presented in New York City in May at the Academy’s annual Ceremonial. The art prizes and purchases, totaling nearly $250,000, honor both established and emerging artists. The award winners were chosen from a group of 40 artists who had been invited to participate in theInvitational Exhibition of Visual Arts, which opened on March 12, 2015. The Exhibition continues through April 12, 2015, and features over 120 paintings, sculptures, installations, photographs, and works on paper. The members of this year’s award committee were: Lynda Benglis, Varujan Boghosian, Lois Dodd, Eric Fischl (Chairman), Yvonne Jacquette, Bill Jensen, Philip Pearlstein, Judy Pfaff, Paul Resika, and Terry Winters.

John Koch Award
of $10,000 given to a young painter of figurative work.

CLINTEL STEED

Jacob Lawrence Award and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Award
of $10,000 each given to visual artists.

IRVING PETLIN
ROBERT BERLIND

Rosenthal Family Foundation Award in Painting
of $10,000 given to a young American painter of distinction

ANDREW PIEDILATO

Art Purchase Program
The Academy’s purchase program began in 1946 to place the work of talented, living American artists in museums across the country. Since the inauguration of this program, the Academy has spent nearly $5 million to purchase over 1200 works of art. The American Impressionist painter Childe Hassam (1859-1935) founded this program through the bequest of over 400 of his works with the stipulation that the accumulated income from their sale be used to establish a fund to purchase paintings and works on paper. Similar bequests were made by Academy members Eugene Speicher (1883-1962), Louis Betts (1873-1961), and Gardner Symons (1861-1930). All works purchased through this program are donated to American museums.

Art Purchase Program for Sculpture
From time to time, the Academy allocates funds specifically for the purchase of sculpture. This year the work of three sculptors was purchased. These works will be donated to American museums.

HARRY ROSEMAN
RICHARD VAN BUREN

Works by the winners of the 2015 Art Awards are currently on display in the Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts, and will be shown in the Exhibition of Work by Newly Elected Members and Recipients of Honors and Awards, which follows the Ceremonial in May.

American Academy of Arts and Letters

The American Academy of Arts and Letters was established in 1898 to “foster, assist, and sustain an interest in literature, music, and the fine arts.” Election to the Academy is considered the highest formal recognition of artistic merit in this country. Founding members include William Merritt Chase, Kenyon Cox, Daniel Chester French, Childe Hassam, Henry James, Theodore Roosevelt, Elihu Vedder, and Woodrow Wilson. The Academy is comprised of 250 of America’s leading voices in the fields of Art, Architecture, Literature, and Music. The Academy presents exhibitions of art, architecture, and manuscripts; and readings and performances of new musicals, and is located in three landmark buildings on Audubon Terrace at 155 Street and Broadway, New York City.